Thursday, November 20, 2008

Continued : What is this fruit?

Regarding to my previous blog with title What is this fruit?. I finally found the fruit name. It's called Passion Fruit, or scientifically it known as Passiflora edulis.

The passion fruit is round to oval, yellow or dark purple at maturity, with a soft to firm, juicy interior filled with numerous seeds. Fresh passion fruit is known to be high in vitamin A, potassium, and dietary fiber. The yellow variety is used for juice processing, while the purple variety is sold in fresh fruit markets. Passion fruit juice is a good source of ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

In Australia, available in commercially fresh and canned. Being added to fruit salads, passion fruit is commonly used in desserts, such as the topping for the pavlova (a meringue cake), cheesecake, and vanilla slice. It is also used to flavor soft drinks such as Passiona and cordials.

In the Dominican Republic, it is used to make juice, jams, the chinola flavoured syrup is used on shaved ice and it is also eaten raw sprinkled with sugar.

In Puerto Rico, where its called Parcha, it is widely believed to lower blood pressure. This is probably because it contains harmala alkaloids and is a mild RIMA.

In Brazil, passion fruit mousse is a common dessert, and passion fruit seeds are routinely used to decorate the tops of certain cakes. Passion fruit juice is also very common.

In Indonesia it is eaten straight as a fruit. It is common to strain the passionfruit for its juice and cook it with sugar to make some sort of thick syrup. It is then mixed with water and ice to be drunk.

In Hawaii, it is known as 'lilikoi', it is normally eaten raw. Lilikoi-flavored syrup is a popular topping for shave ice. Ice cream and mochi are also flavored with lilikoi, as well as many other desserts such as cookies, cakes, and ice cream. Lilikoi is also favored as a jam, jelly, as well as a butter. Lilikoi fruits are not widely available in stores, so most of the fruit eaten comes from backyard gardens or wild groves.

Passion fruit juice or syrup is an essential ingredient of some cocktails, particularly the hurricane and the Peruvian maracuya sour.

In South Africa, passion fruit is used to flavor yogurt. It is also used to flavour soft drinks such as Schweppes Sparkling Granadilla and numerous cordial drinks.